WellPoint to buy Amerigroup for $4.5 billion in Medicaid play

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Health insurer WellPoint Inc will buy rival Amerigroup Corp for $4.46 billion, nearly doubling its Medicaid business in a major bet on the expansion of the U.S. government's health plan for the poor. The companies announced the deal on Monday, just a week and a half after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's healthcare law, which aims to extend coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. Sources familiar with the deal said the high court decision helped serve as a catalyst to negotiations that took place over several months. …